J.P. Rangaswami is the CIO of British Telcom Global Services. The wikipedia writes that he was “named CIO of the Year by Waters Magazine in 2003, and CIO Innovator of the Year by the European Technology Forum in 2004. In 2007, JP was selected as one of technology’s 50 most influential individuals in the silicon.com Agenda Setters poll.” So we should listen and look at his blog, confused of calcutta. He discussed the new polarization - or how the customer gains control. He should tell my last three US telcom providers that will remain nameless. I have always liked BT and worked with them on their call center knowledge support in a former life. They were excellent in involving the employee users is designing the system and creating the content for the knowledge base. In this case, the internal customer had a lot of control. Now British Telcom Global Services seems to be walking the talk. When I went to their web site a popup window offered me the chance at a 200pd prize if I took part in a customer survey.

He started by saying he could make us listen by locking the door - but that might generate a user revolution. He took issue with the term users - also used by drug dealers who try to gain control over their users. His IT industry has also been obsessed with control. Control in any way through out history often tells the people that issues are too complex so we will take care of things and invent their own language. He said he started with Burroughs in 1980. There he was told that the answer to any question was to read the manual.

Ironically, I was involved in creating the manuals for Burroughs first entry into the micro computer market. The machines were too small to warrant the Burroughs teams to go onsite to train people. So we create self-paced manuals with some CBT using the new system. Now people do not tolerate having to even read manuals, much less go to a class. I gave up on Photoshop for this reason. JP said his own kids have never picked up a manual. He said his wife will read a manual for new product but his sons will just use the product. I have always wanted to do what his son does but was often unable to do this by the non-intuitive nature of the product.

People want simplicity but we are not there yet. The fights have traditionally been within the IT departments. Now they have moved outside. The first polarization is expertise. People of his and my generation believe experience is necessary for real innovation. We need to stop rejecting youth. The second is participation. Now people can participate in much more than possible. He gave as an example, the numerous donations in small amounts that Obama has raised for the US primary campaign through the web on his way to a record month for total contributions ever. The third dimension is time. He quoted Rupert Murdoch that fast is the new good. Now we have stuff in Beta all the time. JP said that IT has to get over these three concepts to succeed. Now the users have already breached the IT wall and running around inside the fort. It is too late to keep them out.